And for you true political junkies, here’s our full pool report of the event:

9:25 p.m. Monday, Oct. 8

Huge American flag is the backdrop for the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, which was standing room only. Teleprompter flanked the stage.
Crowd begins to chant, “Obama! Obama!”

POTUS took the stage at 9:27 to standing ovation and deafening, prolonged cheers.

He acknowledges San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Attorney General Kamala Harris, and Reps Barbara Lee and Pete Stark as well as San Francisco 49er quarterback Alex Smith.

“I wish them the best of luck…until they play my Bears,’’ he said, to good natured boos.

Acknowledging the concert by singers John Legend and Michael Franti, and DJ D-Sharp, he said, “That was quite a show. You guys have been having fun.’’

“But now we gotta get down to business,’’ he said. “We’re here because we got some work to do. We’re here because we got an election to win.”
“We’re here because everything we fought for in 2008 is on the line in 2012.”

Four years ago, “I made commitments to you,’’ he said.

He talked about putting Al Qaeda “on its heels,’’ his promises “to cut taxes for small business owners — and we have, 18 times.”

He said he has ended “taxpayer funded wall street bailouts.”

“We passed health care reform, also known as AKA Obamacare,’’ he said to huge cheers. “Because I do care.”

“ I care that folks with pre-existing conditions can still get insurance,’’ he said. “I care that insurance companies don’t jerk you around.”

“I care that we make sure being a woman is not a preexisting condition,’’ he said to more cheers.

“I told you that we would make sure that nobody that serves this country so bravely…will ever be kicked out of the military” because of who they love, he said, as the crowd erupted again in cheers.

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Obama noted that the unemployment rate has now fallen to 7.8 percent.

“We are not there yet. We are not where we need to be yet,’’ he said. “There are still..too many homes under water, to many young people burdened with debt.”

But “we have come too far to turn back now,’’ he said.

The last thing we need “is four years of the very same policies” that got us in the mess in the first place, he said.

“I won’t allow it to happen. And that’s why I’m running for a second term,’’ he said.
“I’ve seen too much pain and too much struggle to let this country get hit with another round of top down economics,’’ he said.

Romney has been “pitching this plan for almost two years now,’’ Obama said. “He stood up on stage…and promised that his tax cuts would include the top one percent, he promised this.”
But most economics say his plan would “raise taxes on the middle class…that’s how arithmetic works.”

Referring to last week’s debate, Obama said that “a few nights ago, suddenly a guy pretended to be Mitt Romney stood on a stage next to me…he said he’s changing his plan. He’s just going to pretend it just doesn’t exist….”I don’t know anything about a $5 trillion tax cut.’”

“Thanks for cleaning that up,’’ Obama said to laughs. “We’ll take your word for it.”

And Obama added that, “for all you moms and kids out there, you should have confidence that finally, somebody is cracking down on Big Bird…Oscar is hiding out in his trash can.”

“Gov. Romney’s plan is to let Wall Street go wild again, but he’s going to bring the hammer down on Sesame Street,’’ he said to cheers.

“What was being presented wasn’t leadership,’’ he said. “That’s salesmanship.”

Obama went into his stump speech on clean energy, oil and education.

“The best education in the world” is “good for business,’’ he said. “Education is the reason I’m standing here today.’’

Obama said he would use the money saved from ending the war in Iraq and Afghanistan to rebuild America, roads, and schools, “infrastructure, that’s what I’m talking about.”

But he said “in a speech today, (Romney) he doubled down..he said ending the war (in Afghanistan) is a mistake..I disagree. Bringing our troops home is the right thing to do.”
“As long as I am the commander in chief, we will sustain the strongest military..the world has ever known,’’ he said.

“San Francisco, CA, this is the choice we now face,’’ he said. “Over and over we are told by opponents that since government can’t do everything, it should do almost nothing.”

“We also believe we’re all in this together….America is not about what can be done for us, but what can be done by us.”

“So I need you in this election, the next 29 days.”
“We cannot afford to be complacent, and we cannot afford to be cynical,’’ he said. “We’ve got a lot more to do, and if we don’t do it, change won’t happen.”

“If you don’t make that difference, other people will fill that void,’’ he said.

“This is a team, people. On the day we began this campaign, I always said that change takes time. We always said it would take more than one term and one president…more than one party,’’ he said. “No, it doesn’t just take me…the deal is, it takes all of us,’’ he said.

But, he warned, “It won’t happen if you got somebody who writes off half the nation even before he takes office…it also won’t happen if half the nation writes off itself by not participating.”

“I still believe in you. I’m asking you to still believe in me,’’ he said. “And if you do, we will win this election.”